A new report from the Speak Up 2013 survey of students, teachers, administrators and parents revealed that about 42 percent of girls in grades 3-5 and 37 percent of girls in grades 6-8 said they regularly play games on tablets compared to 38 percent of boys in grades 3-8. Additional findings presented in the report include:
✱ Girls outpace boys in use of many digital tools for learning, particularly the socially based tools like texting and collaborating online.
✱ 29 percent of high school boys say that they are very interested in a job or career in a STEM field, but only 19 percent of girls say the same.
✱ One-quarter of students in grades 3-5 and nearly one-third of students in grades 6-12 say that they are using a mobile device provided by their school to support schoolwork (these percentages were greater among Title I schools than non-Title I schools).
✱ In four years, the percentage of middle school students taking tests online increased from 32 to 47 percent.
✱ Only one-third of middle school students say that for schoolwork reading, they prefer to read digital materials rather than printed materials.
✱ Digital equity, including student access to the Internet outside of school, is a growing concern among district technology leaders, with 46 percent saying it is one of the most challenging issues they face today (compared to just 19 percent in 2010).
